Winter has Just Started
by DJ Sage
Summary: This is a story of how Tom Riddle lost his humanity and conscience. No one is just born evil, there are certain circumstances that impact one in such a manner that defines the character they will establish in future, and the same goes for Tom Riddle. There is humanity and love in everything and everyone and Tom Riddle is no different.


Winter has started

I took a deep breath. I sensed an emotion that I never encountered in my life before, an emotion of nervousness. I sighed again, and closed my eyes to clear up my head. I turned the knob on the door but it was closed. My hand automatically turned to the door bell but stopped right before pressing it. I was a wizard; I had way more potential and capability than to wait for some muggle to open the door up for me. I glanced around to make sure no one was watching, and quickly slid my hand into my pocket to reach for my wand. "_**Alohomora**_", I quietly whispered to myself and the knob turned around. My long fingers opened up the door and with the confidence and arrogance I always had, I walked right in. It was my right; this manor belonged to me as much as it belonged to my "father". I walked to the living room where a man who looked absolutely like me, but a bit older, was sipping tea. His eyes quickly turned to look at me, and widened. The man opened his mouth but was unable to utter any word. Then slowly and dramatically he stood up from his seat. With his trembling hands, he put the cup of tea on the table and walked right up to me. He walked with the same confidence and arrogance that I had, but I could see right past it. I could see the fear and guilt building up inside him as if those feelings were being circulated in my body. This man who was my father did not just looked like me, but his feelings, and his character was exactly like mine as well. Or maybe I inherited that from him. With trembling lips, but again a much more confident voice, he built up the courage to ask me.

"Who are you?" This man was putting up a great effort to keep the act of his ignorance going. I knew it that he did know I was his son. I could see from the way his eyes curiously looked at me. I could almost a sense a father I never had in those eyes.

"Tom Riddle". That's all I said. And quickly that man's suspicion about me being his son, turned into him being sure that I was his a product of his legacy.

"Don't talk nonsense. I am Tom Riddle". I chuckled to myself. So this man was as stubborn as me as well.  
"Let me finish. Tom Riddle Junior". I enunciated at the word junior. The man, or Tom Riddle's eyes grew even wider than before. He took a deep breath again.

"Tom Riddle junior? I have no son. How could you have inherited the same name as me?" This man was not going to give up easily.

"You don't have a son? So how in the world is there a possibility of a younger man having the exact same name as you, with the exact same looks? Even- (I chuckled) even magic can't do that." This time the man lost it. I knew I had pressed the right point because at the word magic, the man lost all the confidence and courage he had left. He got weaker. I could see him collapsing at any given time. But since he was my father, he wasn't going to give up as easy. His unnatural resemblance to my traits annoyed me but impressed me at the same time. After what seemed like forever, he finally swallowed and found the courage to still talk.

"Oh so that witch sent you here? What does she want? To slip me another love potion? Maybe to make me fall in love with my son this time." The hatred and the irritation with my mother finally revealed my father's true self.  
"I came here to meet you. At my own will. And no the witch did not send me here, she died when I was born." I replied curtly.

"Died? Thank the Lord! A horrendous woman like that deserved nothing better." The bitterness in his voice cut me deep.

"That horrendous woman was my mother! I demand you to speak of her with respect!" My voice raised. The tone that my voice had seemed so unfamiliar even to me. Usually this tone was only heard inside my head, but today it finally came out. I had lost all the calmness, and the small percentage of kindness I had when I first came here. Those emotions were being slowly replaced by anger and irritation.

"I respect all human beings. But a woman like that couldn't be more than a devil's beast. Son, you seem so civilized and proper. Don't taint your character by being attracted to a woman like that." The arrogance in my "father's" voice was far more than I had ever experienced.

"Why should I not respect her? Just because she was physically unattractive?!" I asked.

"They say if you don't have a beautiful face, at least have nice virtues. That woman possessed nothing of those categories". His reply was filled with such a confidence and pride in his hate.

"Nice virtues? She left her whole family for you! She left magic just for a man whose head was too high to bow down for her. She should have known you were nothing more than a conceited arse". The words rushed to defend my mother. I was feeling as if someone had just offended the only love I was capable of. But this made no difference to my father.

"I never asked her to love me. Hell, it wouldn't have made any difference to me if she hated me with deep passion. Son, stop being so blinkered. Stop fighting your own father for a woman you never knew. I am willing to accept you back into my life, and finally take on the responsibilities I left behind. Do not be fooled that I hold no means of affection for you, you look like a son I would always want to have, you talk like the man I would proudly show off to the world, you have a charming presence that can put anyone into a trance for a moment. Look at things from my perspective, imagine how betrayed and fooled I felt. That woman is the reason as to why I lived without faith in love for my whole life. She is also the reason for why you never had a proper family. She-"

"She is the reason why I have magic!" I cut him off. This time I bellowed. My father's eyes changed quickly from an emotion of pity to an emotion of disgust.

"Oh, so you are born abnormal as well? A man with such devious capabilities has no sense in being my son". He said, and turned around. With these words, my anger quickly mixed with my blood and ran through out my body, pumping through my head.

"I don't believe it is much of an honor for me as well, if I get to be a son of a man like you, either. Just because you are so conceited and narrow minded to accept different people does not mean you can ruin others' lives. Because of you my mother spent the last months of her in complete torture! Because of you I lived my life as an orphan, as a complete distressed child. The "abnormal" people you are talking about gave me the home and I love that I finally received. Even as strangers, they are the closest thing I have to a family, and they have more dignity than you do. You knew that my mother was pregnant with your child, you knew that she had no means of taking care of herself on her own, and you always knew I was out there, somewhere, living in the city where you abandoned us. However you took no action or responsibility to not just accept me, but even try to meet your me. Such a low man like you, does not hold any authority to criticize the existence of the Wizarding world. You have no right to insult them!" I never fought with words before. This time the words seemed like my only defense But my words did not have much power to change my father's views. He turned around to look me in the eyes and smirked at me, as if I was some ignorant child making a stupid statement. Words did not help me before against this beast, but this time something else would. My fingers traced the way to a certain piece of wood I did not intend on using when I came here. The anger was rushing throughout my mind so fast that I had lost the capability to think. With all the anger and pain I had accumulated in that night, I shouted "Avada Kedavra!" My father's smirk seemed to freeze. His whole body froze for a second and fell down with a thud. I heard screaming behind me and saw an old couple staring at me with disbelief and fear. These must be my "grandparents". Without thinking, or acknowledging what I was about to do, I shot the same curse at them, that I shot at my father. They too fell with a thud. I stood there for a while, emotionless, thoughtless. I felt dumb. All the blood seemed to gush to my head, and my limbs felt paralyzed for a split second. After what seemed like eternity I finally turned to look at my father, I walked up to him. His eyes that first looked at me with love and regret for a moment were now cold. The lips that called me "son" for a while froze there. I felt something rush through my eyes that I never witnessed before. Not even when the children from my orphanage would pick at me, or isolate me. Not even when I first found out my mother died when I was born. I felt that substance run through my eyes. Such a thin fluid but so heavy with my heart's emotions, it gushed down on my cheeks. And what might be for the first time, I sobbed uncontrollably, holding my father's body. I never came with the intention to kill him, or hate him. I came here to reunite a family that my mother once dreamed of. All of that was gone with my father. And that night, not only the tears escaped my body, but the humanity and love I carried left, and died with my father never to come back. Winter had just started and it was going to live me cold forever.


End file.
